The art and business of film with Bob Strauss

Main menu

Post navigation

No Wonder They Make So Many Bad Movies

As readers of this blog know, I’m no huge fan of Clint Eastwood’s “Letters from Iwo Jima.”
But part of why it didn’t grab me was because Eastwood clearly directed the film entirely on his own terms, infusing every frame of a completely foreign project (and in a language he doesn’t speak, yet) with his distinctive aesthetic, personality, philosophy and moral instinct. Some of his ideas simply didn’t sync up with mine regarding what a war movie should be; but I never questioned that he made the movie with all the formidable ability at his command, and created something unique and powerful.
So, while I was neither surprised nor disappointed to see Eastwood absent from today’s list of Directors Guild of America Award nominees, I gotta say: You clowns thought “Little Miss Sunshine” was directed better?
What part? The fifth or sixth time they had to push start the van?
And you evidently thought “LMS” was better directed than “Children of Men,” “United 93,” “Casino Royale,” “Little Children” and “Pan’s Labyrinth,” which are just some of the films I’d say were more deserving of snubbing Eastwood over.
Guess that explains why so many more American movies turn out like “Click” than something that really shows a filmmaker’s talent and soul, rather than just his or her amusement skills.